Storm Over The Horizon
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: Secrets don't always rest... the truth comes out sooner rather than later and when it does, it sends everything into a spiral.
1. Jumbled Memories

_**10/7/15, NXT TakeOver: Respect…**_

" _There's some kind of calmness to this as they hold each other…" Corey Graves says as Amanda and Finn hug after she had hugged Samoa Joe._

 _Finn and Joe had just won the Dusty Rhodes Classic tournament… and Amanda looked up to the rafters and mouthed 'Hope we've made you proud, Dusty.', tears forming in her eyes._

 _It had been nearly five months since the American Dream had passed on and Amanda was still taking his death hard, Finn lightly rubbing his hand up and down her back as they embraced again._

" _We did, love. We made him proud." Finn whispered._

 _As the three left the ring, Amanda felt herself being lifted up but not by Finn or Joe._

" _Okay, ha ha, got me." Amanda says with a slight laugh as she thought there was a harness strapped to her… it had felt like there was._

" _It's not us, Mandy…" Joe says, Amanda feeling confusion hit her._

 _And before she could fully register that, she let out a scream as she was thrown right into the steel steps and fell to the ground, Finn and Joe running to her._

 _Amanda felt blood trailing down her left knee and tried to move her left leg, Finn stopping her and Joe tying Finn's shirt around Amanda's bleeding knee as Finn picked her up into his arms._

 _The three had seen a flash of a white sundress, small enough to fit a toddler, before it disappeared._

" _Guess things got a bit crazy out there…" Amanda says with a slight chuckle as Finn took her to the backstage area with Samoa Joe following them, Amanda's left leg and foot already bruising._

" _What the hell happened out there?! I damn well know you didn't jump three feet in the air and then toss yourself into the steps!" Finn says, placing Amanda onto a crate._

 _Amanda looked at him and Joe before looking down, both seeing that look._

" _It's okay, you can tell me…" Finn says, rubbing Amanda's shoulders._

" _That little flash of white you and Joe saw… that was a little ghost who's been angry at me since I was 11…" Amanda says as tears fell from her eyes, Finn's mouth falling open in shock as he encircled his arms around Amanda and rested his right hand on her face, brushing the tears away. "I'm sorry, I never wanted you to know…"_

" _Mandy, it's okay…" Joe says, lightly rubbing his hand up and down Amanda's back._

" _Ghosts linger at times, love… it's not your fault, you're not crazy." Finn says, kissing Amanda on the side of her head._

 _Once Amanda was calm enough, she looked at both of them and all three agreed silently to keep this secret._

 _But they didn't know just what would spill out from keeping it between them._

 **Two days earlier** _ **,**_ **WWE Performance Centre…**

She swung back and forth on the bar, her small body almost like a pendulum… and Finn wasn't exactly sure what that was about.

But he found himself watching Amanda after putting the barbell back on the Hammersmith weight machine as she seemed strangely quiet… no humming like she would during her workout, her slightly oversized Balor Club tank top hanging off her thin frame and giving Finn a slight glimpse of the white lace push up bra underneath it.

Finn felt his face heat up slightly and his mouth go a bit dry but shook it off, fixing his Balor Club shirt and black workout shorts.

"You alright, love?" Finn asked after walking over, Amanda snapping back into awareness and seeing him.

"Yeah… guess I just lost my train of thought." Amanda says, feeling Finn wrap his arms around her and letting go of the metal bar that normally held weight plates.

She would've jumped down but there was a dull ache in her left leg, it sometimes happened when it was storming outside like it was today.

Amanda had chalked it up to the old injury… it was a bad break after all and old injuries ached occasionally as people got older.

But something was bugging at her about last night's dream… and she was torn between telling Finn or keeping quiet.

' _Get a grip, Amanda! It was just a damn nightmare!'_ Amanda thought, rearranging her now messy ponytail.

But she couldn't get it out of her head… it was almost like a warning.


	2. Downpour

_Amanda opened her eyes and as she had anticipated, it was pouring rain outside. Sitting up, a 'crick' echoed from her spine as Finn had walked in, drenched from head to toe._

" _Power's out?" Amanda asked._

" _To be expected in storms like this." Finn answered while catching his breath and hanging up his jacket to dry._

" _If it's not raining one day, it's either blistering hot or strangely cold…" Amanda said as she stood up, helping Finn pull his shirt off but it caught him off guard at first._

" _Someone's playful today." Finn chuckled._

" _Hey, you don't need to be getting sick, Finn." Amanda responded as she tossed the shirt aside._

 _Finn dried himself off with a towel before looking outside and back at Amanda, who was pretending not to watch him… but he could see the faint redness in her face._

' _Damn it, get it together, Mandy. Get it together…' Amanda thought, trying to remember what she was going to say._

" _Are you lappin' up some cheeky peeks, lassie?" Finn asked, emphasising his accent more than normal in a slight joking manner._

" _I try to…" Amanda whispered, losing her voice as her eyes trailed up his soaked body and his fingers trailed up hers before he slipped his right hand into the waistband of Amanda's pajama shorts._

" _Be subtle about it? I'm nowhere near as subtle as you." Finn whispered, pulling Amanda to him and leaning in._

 _Their mouths crashed against each others, their bodies pressed tightly to each other…_

"Mandy?" Finn asked, waving his right hand in front of her face and Amanda blinking.

"Sorry…" Amanda answered in a slightly bashful tone, realising that they were still in the Performance Centre.

"I wonder where your mind goes to at times… but given that we're nearing the end of the Dusty Rhodes classic tag tournament, I don't blame ya for being distracted." Finn said, lightly resting a hand on Amanda's right shoulder.

Across the centre, Alexa narrowed her eyes.

"Look at her, pretending she doesn't lust over him." Alexa muttered, Carmella lightly swatting her.

"In case you haven't noticed, so do most of the women in NXT and the female fans in the audiences at night so why are you just picking on Mandy?" Carmella responded.

"They express it freely, she just acts like a horny schoolgirl." Alexa hissed, Amanda's eyes narrowing.

Before she could head over there, smack Alexa and tell her to shut her mouth, Finn wrapped his left hand around Amanda's right wrist and lightly stroked it with his thumb.

"How do you deal with all this when I have to be at the main roster shows?" Amanda asked, Finn thinking of an idea of how to calm her… as luck would have it, there had been a Blockbuster store recently opened.

"How about a movie night?" Finn asked.

"Okay, now you're just trying to distract me." Amanda chuckled.

"It's working already, I can see it. Come on, just admit it." Finn said, lightly poking Amanda's ribcage.

"Okay, yes. But no _Poltergeist_ , don't try to convince me otherwise." Amanda responded as they grabbed their duffel bags.

"You don't really believe in that old curse, do ya?" Finn asked as he slipped his left arm around Amanda's shoulders.

"They used real skeletons for the first movie, Finn." Amanda said as they headed into the parking lot.

It wasn't long before they were in the video store, Amanda picking up a DvD of _Dirty Dancing_ and Finn seeing the gleam in her eyes.

"Always go back to the classic romantic films." Finn said.

"Not my fault someone swiped the last copy of _Labyrinth_." Amanda responds.

"Always happens when you want something specific." Finn replied.

"Yeah-" Amanda starts to say, both jumping when they heard a crash and saw a DvD shelf fall.

"Enzo, stop antagonizing children!" Colin said, helping Enzo up.

"I just wanted to know why she had blood on her!" Enzo explains.

"Wait, what happened?" Amanda asked after she and Finn walked over.

"There was this girl outside, her back was practically soaked red… I tried to approach her but she was gone before I'd even taken two steps." Enzo answered.

Amanda looked towards the hallway and saw a silver curtain rustling for a few seconds, carefully walking over and pulling it back… to her horror, the girl was severely malnourished on top of the injuries.

"Hi there…" Amanda said softly after crouching down, the girl looking at her. "I'm Amanda… what's your name?"

"S… Sylvia." The girl whispered, her arms shaking either from her fear or her pain, the blood from her wounds in Amanda's sight as a small trail of it had formed along the stitch line of her top.

"You don't have to tell us who did this to you, not right away… but you need to be patched up, okay?" Amanda responded, asking the last part and carefully reaching her arms out. "Come here, kiddo… it's okay, we won't hurt you."

Sylvia nodded, holding onto Amanda before Amanda stood up and walked outside with Sylvia cradled to her.

At the nearby ER, Sylvia was sedated and hooked to a feeding tube after being stitched up, her tiny right hand wrapped around Amanda's left hand and her noticing the logo on Amanda's shirt.

"You're… In that loud show that's always on…" Sylvia managed to say through the drowsiness of the sedatives.

"It's a bit loud at times… I can't help but jump when I'm out there with one of my friends and the pyro goes off." Amanda said, Sylvia remembering how Amanda jumped out of her skin last week when she walked out there with Chris Jericho.

"Well you're right near it, does it hurt your ears?" Sylvia asked.

"Sometimes it does…" Amanda answered as Finn, Enzo and Colin walked back in.

"Sorry that I hit you…" Sylvia said after seeing Enzo.

"It's alright, kiddo." Enzo replied after sitting down, Sylvia lightly touching his blonde and brown hair.

"I like all of that colour…" Sylvia said, the tiniest hint of a smile on her face.

Amanda heard her phone chime and Sylvia saw that it was yet another text from Seth but this one said _'Bit of trouble, Dean ended up hitting his head against a stop sign.'._

"We'll watch out for her, kiddo." Colin responded.

"Sylvia… I'll be right back, one of my friends got hurt a bit." Amanda said, Sylvia nodding.

With a quick hug, Amanda headed down to the room that Dean was in and walked in, Dean yelling out slightly when he was stitched up.

"Oh, quit being a wuss, Ambrose!" Amanda replied, Dean and Seth seeing blood on her shirt.

"Don't sass me, Mandy… and how did you get hurt?" Dean asked.

"It's not mine. Look, we… found a small child, she's hurt badly." Amanda answered, Dean and Seth turning concerned.

"Like… fallen hurt, attack hurt, how hurt?" Dean asked.

"I think she's been abused… she's too thin for her age, the doctor had to put her on a feeding tube. She's got all these wounds and old scars…" Amanda said, trying to stay calm but the two could see she was angry at who had hurt Sylvia and Seth carefully pulled her into his arms for a hug.

"When she's ready… she'll tell us the sick bastard who did this." Seth said as he held her.

"I hope so, Seth…" Amanda responded as she let her tears fall, Seth seeing the red imprints on her fingers after they let go and knew that she had been swinging back and forth on the weight bar again.

The three headed to the room that Sylvia was in, seeing that she had fallen asleep.

' _She looks like she hasn't slept in weeks.'_ Amanda thought as she sat down, Finn resting his right hand on her back.


	3. Need Stability

_**A week earlier…**_

" _Oh, sorry." Amanda said after accidentally crashing into someone but the guy refused to let go of her wrist._

" _You have a thing called eyes you scrawny bitch, fucking use them!" The guy growled, slamming Amanda into the wall and watching her fall to the restaurant floor… but it was seconds after that when he was grabbed himself and pinned against the wall. "Hey, what the fuck?!" He yelled._

" _You don't put your hands on her, got that?!" Finn growled, getting protective as always whenever someone hurt Amanda._

 _The guy nodded and backed away, leaving as Finn turned and helped Amanda up._

" _You alright, love?" Finn asked, Amanda nodding._

 _But something struck a nerve with her about the stranger…_

 **Present time…**

It was a few hours later that they were at the apartment and after making sure that Sylvia was settled in, Amanda dialed Roman's number after getting cleaned off and redressed.

"Hey. I kind of need your help with something." Amanda said after Roman answered the phone.

"Are they bugging you two about it again?" Roman asked.

"Not that… does Joelle have any spare clothes? We found a small child and she's in rough shape, Roman." Amanda answered.

"She does… what kind of size are we talking?" Roman said, wanting to get through the request before asking the obvious questions about the child.

"Small in children's sizes… too small, she's about 12 years old and looks like she only weighs 60 pounds." Amanda said, startling Roman.

"That's way too tiny for someone that age. I'll be there as soon as I can, Mandy." Roman responded.

"Be careful, I have a feeling whoever's been doing this is looking for her." Amanda responds, trying to stay calm.

The two hung up and Amanda headed downstairs, Sylvia in some spare clothes… Amanda had thought ahead, having grabbed some children's clothes yesterday from the concession stand already set up at Full Sail University as a surprise for her niece Shelby but Sylvia needed them more.

"Feeling better, kiddo?" Amanda asked, crouching down a bit and Sylvia nodding.

"They're all soft." Sylvia said while pulling a motion like she was hugging the top she was wearing.

"The best kind of clothes are." Amanda says, Sylvia noticing the Balor Club armband on Amanda's right arm… and she remembered Alexa shouting at Amanda on last week's episode of NXT and pointing at the armband and then at Finn. "Sylvia, you okay?" She asked.

"Who was that lady yelling at you last week?" Sylvia asked.

"Her name's Alexa… and she got a bit too into the script, that's all." Amanda said, not wanting to worry Sylvia.

"She's…" Sylvia started to say, stopping with a look that Amanda knew all too well, the one of painful memories being stirred back to the surface.

"Hey, don't worry about it, alright? She's not gonna get anywhere near you, kiddo." Amanda says as they hug.

When Roman had shown up, Sylvia looked up at him and smiled.

"You protect Mandy from the others." Sylvia says, Roman a bit taken aback but nodding.

It was at Full Sail University for the NXT: TakeOver: Respect pay per view two days later that Alexa was walking around and saw Amanda near the vending machine with several bags of Cheetos, Doritos and Snyder's Of Hanover pretzels along with some cartons of orange juice and tea… having no idea what was actually going on, the blonde and red ombre haired diva walked over.

"Are you throwing an all you can eat buffet or something?" Alexa questioned.

"Not in those terms, no… I didn't want to say anything but our match got scrapped because of time constraints." Amanda says, Alexa not believing her and assuming something else because of the lack of caffeine.

"That or you're having the most unhealthy cravings. Better regulate or that offspring is gonna come out looking like the Pillsbury Doughboy." Alexa said.

"Okay now you're really just-" Amanda starts to say.

"Is there a problem here?" Finn asked after walking over.

"Just saving your creation from becoming the perfect guy to play the next lead role in Big Momma's House." Alexa said.

"You can fuck off now!" Amanda snapped, Alexa a bit startled by the tone but leaving, Finn and Amanda heading to their locker room. "What the hell is her damn problem? I feel like I'm back in high school when she pulls things like that."

"The rookies here are idiots, of course they'd believe that we have a kid on the way." Finn says, helping Amanda with some of the things in her arms.

"She's running okay now but she's still too damn thin to be healthy." Amanda explained.

"That's why we're gonna help her." Finn said before knocking on the door.

"Who's there?" Enzo asked jokingly, Sylvia snickering.

"You know who's here, Zo, open the door please?" Amanda responds, Enzo doing so and letting them in.

"Did you clean out the whole machine?" Sylvia asked.

"Just about, kiddo." Amanda said after she and Finn set the snacks down.

Walking to the vending machine himself, Samoa Joe growled when he saw that it was mostly empty.

"Oh yikes. Guys didn't get to restocking it yet?" Tye Dillinger asked after walking over.

"That's possible but look at what's missing and what's not." Joe answered, Tye seeing that the Cheetos were all cleaned out and knew they were Amanda's favorite snack but that the coffees were still stocked.

"The girl's a rabid caffeine addict, why didn't she take any of the coffee?" Tye asked.

"Let's go find out." Joe says, the two leaving… they knocked on the door, Amanda opening it and quickly stepping into the hallway.

"Anyone follow you?" Amanda asked after quickly closing the door, the two looking at each other before glancing at Amanda.

"What's going on, kiddo?" Joe questioned.

Amanda opened the door and let them in, their eyes widening when they saw Sylvia.

"H… Hey…" Sylvia said, her grip tightening on the bag of hot Cheetos she was holding.

"Hi, kiddo… we're some of Mandy's friends. I'm Tye, his name's Joe." Tye said after Amanda closed the door.

"I'm… Sylvia." She introduced, her grip loosening as her nerves loosened and calmed down again.

"Nice to meet you, Sylvia." Joe responded as he sat down, Sylvia smiling.


	4. For A While

"Found her two days ago… broke my heart to see her like that." Amanda said once she and Tye were in the hallway again.

"Now I understand why you and the others didn't want anyone else knowing, trying not to scare her…" Tye replied.

"So if anyone asks about the missing snacks, juice and decaf tea-" Amanda starts to say, Tye knowing which story to go with.

"Got it, kiddo." Tye answered before they hug and he left to get ready for his match, Amanda walking back in.

"Cover story?" Sylvia asked.

"Throw off suspicion as long as we can." Amanda answered as she sat down.

Tye nearly reached his locker room when he saw Corey near the vending machine, pouting slightly.

"Who took all the hot Cheetos? Tye, where's Mandy?" Corey asked, Tye stopping and going with the story set in place.

"In her and Balor's locker room. Don't overreact about the food, it's not just her that she's eating for now." Tye answered, Corey nodding.

"Well how long do they plan on keeping quiet about it?" Corey asked.

"That's up to them." Tye said.

In the locker room, Amanda glanced at Sylvia, who was distracting herself with Simpsons: Hit And Run on the ps2 and laughed when Homer shouted "I have no insurance!".

"In nearly 3 decades, the show hasn't changed all that much." Amanda said.

"The older episodes are funnier, much like this." Sylvia said as Homer crashed into Milhouse and yelled "Please don't sue!".

"You've watched them a lot then?" Amanda asked.

"When I could… I couldn't always." Sylvia said.

Amanda was thinking about the idea Roman had told her but decided to let him tell Sylvia, when it was time to.

Waiting patiently, the pay per view was starting and to no one's surprise, Alexa was out there ranting about not having an opponent.

"She's too loud…" Sylvia replied, Amanda nodding in agreement… but then Alexa's rant turned to about no opponent tonight to why she thought that the match was scrapped.

"Things aren't what they seem to be, NXT universe… little Mandy really should've stayed on the pill and away from the Demon King." Alexa said, Finn rubbing his left hand up and down Amanda's back when he saw a bit of irritation in her hazel eyes.

Across the arena in his office, Hunter looked down at the script midway through his talk with Baron.

"The hell? That's not what she's supposed to say." Baron said, a bit confused.

"Have you spoken to Mandy? I haven't seen her since Friday morning." Hunter responded, Baron texting Amanda.

' _The hell's going on?!'_

' _It's a long story… wait, you're watching the Harley Quinn reject mouth off in the ring, aren't ya?'_ Amanda replied.

' _Half of the lot of us are, Mandy, and don't forget thousands of members of the audience.'_

' _Yeah, they're chanting "Second gen demon!" right now. I'll explain it later, just keep focused, okay?'_ Amanda replies.

"She said she'll explain it later?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah… but you're worried about her health history, I know that look, Hunter." Baron said as he stood up.

"Naturally." Hunter responded before they saw Bayley walk out there.

Back in the locker room, Enzo and Sylvia were joking around as Amanda stretched out on the couch, her head in Finn's lap and him trailing his fingers along her arm before reaching her stomach.

"Well if they weren't in a frenzy before, they are now…" Amanda said, trying not to laugh at the slight tickling.

"You guys gotta get out there soon!" Sylvia responded, Finn and Amanda standing up.

"Be careful back here, okay?" Amanda asked as she and Sylvia hugged.

 _ **Joe/Balor vs Rhyno/Baron Corbin, Final tournament match…**_

"Notice the distance she's keeping from the ring itself just like the match against The Revival, does that give credence to what was said earlier by you, Alexa?" Tom Phillips asked, Amanda at ringside and Alexa on commentary.

"Absolutely it does, we wouldn't want a kick to her in the wrong place so early on now, would we? Who knows how long it'd be until the potential for 2nd gen demon is revived?" Alexa answered.

"Switching gears, Rhyno has not gotten a shot in for this entire match." Corey explains, jumping when Rhyno hit Finn and seeing the look in Amanda's eyes as it hit too low.

"How about not taking cheap shots when the ref's back is turned, Terry?!" Amanda yelled at Rhyno, having called him by his real name before she checked on Finn. "You alright?" She whispered, her hands on his shoulders.

"Don't worry, love, I'm okay." Finn whispered before pulling himself back up and Amanda staying back.

The match continued with Finn and Joe winning and Amanda hugging them both… but Finn noticed that she glanced back at the steel steps and thought back to Amanda telling him about her nightmare, quickly resting his hands on her face.

"Abi isn't here, it's okay." Finn whispered before the three left the ring without incident and with the trophy.

In the back, Sylvia's eyes widened when she saw the trophy in person.

Amanda glanced at how the trophy was designed like Dusty's ring gear and her eyes welled with tears… she couldn't believe he was gone, Sylvia resting a hand on Amanda's left arm and Amanda blinking her tears away.

"It was a few months ago… no one outside the immediate family knew he was sick." Amanda explained.

"This was to honor his memory?" Sylvia asked, Amanda nodding.

It was later after the pay per view that they stopped to get something to eat… Sylvia waited with Finn and Enzo as Amanda was in the restaurant and Sylvia noticed the worry etched in Finn's facial expression and him glancing at his phone, checking the time.

"Is something wrong?" Sylvia asked.

"Just stay here, lock the doors. Enzo, you guard her with your life, okay?" Finn said before getting out of the Altima.

Heading into the restaurant, Finn looked around for Amanda. As he reached a hallway, he noticed that the manager's office door was cracked open and his eyes widened in horror when he heard Amanda's voice.

"I told you, I don't know the damn combination!"

Finn was about to back out of the room when his one step in reverse sent his neck colliding with the barrel of a gun behind him.

"Hands to the sky, mate!" The guy behind Finn ordered loudly, which brought two of the guys in the office out, both also armed, one with a Pistol and one with a famed mini Uzi.

"Okay… just don't hurt her, alright?" Finn responded, raising his hands up as he was shoved into the office and saw blood trailing from Amanda's head.

"How sweet… well maybe if we say that she'll be the first to go, you can encourage this stubborn moron to give up his numbers!" The guy behind Finn said while quickly tying a length of rope around Finn's wrists behind his back.

Tying him to a chair before turning to the manager, the masked robbers continued to intimidate him while Finn could feel the chair Amanda was tied to trembling and managed to squeeze her right hand to try to reassure her.

"They're gonna kill us…" Amanda whispered.

"Not on my watch they won't, love…" Finn said quietly.

Out in the parking lot, Enzo flagged down another car and the driver exited it, walking over as Enzo rolled the window down.

"Something's wrong, miss, our friends haven't returned yet." Enzo explains, the brunette woman turning to a raven haired one.

"Right… the whole room looks empty, that ain't right. Dial the three figures pal." The raven haired woman said.

The brunette did just that and Sylvia looked at Enzo with fearful eyes.

"They're gonna be okay, right Enzo?!" Sylvia asked, hanging onto Enzo as his arms wrapped around her.

"They'll be safe soon, kiddo. I gotta call the boys in blue, you know them?" Enzo said, Sylvia nodding.


	5. Safety In Numbers

**Meanwhile…**

"I swear you two look familiar." One of the robbers said.

"Why the hell would you care?!" Amanda snapped at him.

"You've seen this little spitfire before, right?" The robber asked his two associates.

"Hell yeah I have!" One of the other robbers replied, impersonating the WWE announcer's deep, growling voice.

"Look, just let them go! They have nothing to do with this!" The manager says, trying to keep calm before he was whacked across the face.

"Ow, watch it, Balor!" Amanda hissed when she felt the ropes tug into her skin.

"That's… that's not me…" Finn whispered as they both felt light tugging on the ropes from behind them, but as soon as the ropes came loose, two small hands grabbed one of each of their wrists, indicating them to stay where they were.

"For the last time before someone's brains become jam, code! Spill it!" The main of the three robbers ordered, as another raised his gun towards Amanda, ready to shoot if the manager didn't answer…

But then he did. And as soon as he started speaking numbers, all three's attention was on him, and in that same moment the two hands let go of Finn and Amanda's wrists, patting them as an indication to get to work.

The two jumped up, Amanda knocking the gun away and dropkicking the head robber as Finn knocked the second one unconscious before slamming his knee into the third one's face, breaking his nose.

"The… hell?!" The one Amanda got managed to say, looking past the two. Amanda glanced behind the chairs, them looked fully as she saw it was Sylvia who'd untied them.

"Do it now so they don't have to make you… on the ground, everyone." Sylvia said, having untied the others while the fight had progressed, before running back out of the restaurant and instantly being replaced with an entire SWAT team, rifles raised and voices yelling orders.

Outside, Hunter stopped his rental car when he saw the chaotic scene and got out, reaching Amanda and Finn as Enzo held Sylvia close to him.

"I never would have asked that of you myself, kiddo… but that was insanely brave." Enzo said, Sylvia shaking as she calmed down slowly, her eyes fixed on the restaurant and more closely, the three robbers who if they'd seen her, she knew they would have ended her life in the blink of an eye.

"Robbery… are you all alright?" Hunter questions.

"Yeah, for the most part." Amanda says, trying to walk forward but her legs buckled and Finn caught her and held her upright. "I'm okay, just got hit too hard." She said, trying to keep him calm.

"They busted your head open, you're getting checked out by a doctor, Mandy." Finn says, Hunter resting a hand on Amanda's left shoulder.

At the ER, Amanda's head was stitched up as Sylvia and Hunter talked.

"They were just trying to keep me safe…" Sylvia explained as she sat on Hunter's lap.

"You going in there was just nuts, I can't believe they asked you to-" Hunter started to say, Sylvia cutting him off.

"They didn't… I asked if I could." Sylvia said, Hunter freezing up for a moment as he took that shock in. "I learnt… they obviously would have had weapons, they would have used them as they heard the teams burst in… they didn't ask me to distract the bad guys, they agreed with me saying that I should."

"That was brave though, kiddo… I was nowhere near as brave at your age." Amanda said as her phone rang and Sylvia saw _John_ flash across the screen. "He knows by now…" She said, answering the phone. "John, just calm-" She starts but was cut off by her brother's panicked shouting.

"Are you okay?! You could've been killed, what happened?! I saw the-" John starts to say.

"John, calm down! We're okay, all of us… and as for where you were going, you know that Alexa runs her mouth too much. If there was really a kid on the way, you know I'd tell you first." Amanda said, John calming down a bit.

"She does have a mouth… but she doesn't start off for no reason, however small, what kicked her on it this time?" John said.

"About two days ago, we found a child and we've been taking care of her… after what she's been through, she needs a stable life. Earlier, I was stocking up on food for Sylvia… she's way too thin, John." Amanda explained.

"You amaze me, helping out with kids… you'll be a great mom one day, Mandy." John says as Amanda and Sylvia hug.

"That's the man who everyone uses to prank online, I saw… I saw _him_ do it." Sylvia said, referring to the multiple online videos of John Cena phone call pranks.

"Those pranks get out of control at times." John says.

"Yep… and for the last time, there's no concussion, John." Amanda said, the last part directed at John.

"Just a cut and a nasty bruise." Sylvia added.

"I have a habit of worrying… but I'll check on you all in a bit, okay?" John responded.

"Okay and Nikki, you calm down too." Amanda said, hearing Nikki in the background.

The call ended and Sylvia climbed back onto Hunter's lap, turning to him.

"Can we give them a few minutes alone?" Sylvia whispered, Hunter taking her out of the room.

Amanda's calm facade seemed to crack, Finn taking her left hand into his right one.

"She's getting to be… very knowing…" Amanda managed to say as her previously contained emotions spilled out in a few droplets of tears. "I thought… that room would be the last thing I'd see, Finn…"

"I did too… but she'll be okay." Finn whispered, brushing Amanda's tears away.

"She needs to act like a kid… after everything she's gone through. Why would anyone hurt a child? It's beyond wrong." Amanda managed to say before Finn took her into his arms and the two hugged.

Out in the hallway, Sylvia looked up as Roman and the others ran to them.

"Roman!" Sylvia exclaims, jumping into his arms and Roman hugging her.

"Hey, are you okay, little one?!" Roman asked, checking her for any further injuries.

"Not scratched, I'm okay." Sylvia said, the others feeling calmer once they saw that Sylvia was finally smiling.

Hunter answered his own phone, talking to Stephanie.

"It's on the news, are you all okay?!" Stephanie asked.

"We're okay but there's a lot to explain that I can't over the phone, Steph." Hunter answered, Stephanie knowing it was important.

"Okay. You know, you worry me too much, Hunter." Stephanie responded.

"I know, Steph…" Hunter said as he saw Seth tickling Sylvia and heard her laughing, Hunter smiling.

"Is that a kid?" Stephanie asked.

"Yep." Hunter says.

The drive to Tampa took a while but once at the house, John had insisted on them staying with him as Roman told Sylvia his idea.

"She's practically out so I better get her upstairs." Roman said as he held a sleeping Sylvia in his arms and Finn picked Amanda up into his arms, Amanda careful not to scream.

"You're worrying too much…" Amanda says with a small laugh as Roman took Sylvia upstairs.

"Let me worry about you." Finn said quietly, kissing Amanda on her forehead as John shook his head with a smirk.

"Roman…" Sylvia whispered as Roman tucked her into a spare bed.

"You get some sleep now, kiddo. You need it." Roman said, Sylvia lightly holding onto his wrist to stop him from going.

"There's… another one… Janessa's still trapped…" Sylvia whispered, her eyes closed as she was still almost asleep.

Roman headed out of the room and out the door.


	6. Finding Her

She looked up… and backed away out of fear, Roman managing to calm her.

"Who… who are you?" Janessa asked.

"I'm a friend of Sylvia's, she told me you were trapped." Roman says, reaching out and helping Janessa up.

"You have to hide… he's here somewhere!" Janessa whispered.

"Who?" Roman questioned.

"The man who never thought to tell Sylvia that she's adopted and I'm property, just hide!" Janessa said, directing Roman towards the other side of the living room which was piled with old junk.

Roman hid as the door opened.

"I don't know what the hell they were thinking, tying those two up botched everything!" A man growled.

"Yeah… they did-" Janessa started to say, stopping as the man stepped threateningly at her.

"You keep your mouth shut! You're still not off helping that little brat escape, don't you think I won't mash your brains through your nostrils!" The man growled, Janessa backing up and just sitting silently in an old woven wood chair to one side of the room, staring at the floor as the man sat on the couch, a second man entering too and sitting in an armchair nearby.

Roman felt rage surface, remembering the times he saw Amanda with bruises on her and Janessa nodded, giving a signal.

"I'm sick of your bullshit, treating us like this!" Janessa threatened, standing up defiantly.

"Oh, you are?! Are we forgetting who saved you from rotting away on a street corner, giving back alley favours for food stamps and freezing at night?!" The man growled.

"No, instead I 'earn my keep' by being the maid in this filthy dump and then being made to give _you_ 'back alley favours'! It was a good thing I got Sylvia out of here while she was still moderately innocent!" Janessa shouted, the man storming over and grabbing her by her throat, holding her up against the wall.

"You are 14, little bitch, you have no word to speak!" The man yelled.

"R… Really?" Janessa managed to choke out as Roman rose from his hiding place. "My word to speak… is… left, mate!"

Roman reached out and put the second man in a chokehold, rendering him unconscious as the first man backed up.

"You've got-" Roman growled, smashing the man's head against the wall. "A hell of a lot of nerve treating children like this, you fucker!" He finished, grabbing Janessa and taking her to the car.

When the two were a good distance from the house, Janessa looked at Roman.

"You've… seen someone getting treated like that before, haven't you?" Janessa asked.

"My friend… she was just a little older than you when her first boyfriend started beating her." Roman said.

"These bastards have no excuse for it… I really thought he'd saved me, really he only wanted me for himself. Someone to fill the housework role left after his woman beat it, Sylvia was there before me…" Janessa said, the end as she started sounding a bit breathless and squeaky.

"Are you okay? Is something stuck in your throat?" Roman asked, Janessa shaking her head as she undid the buttons of her blue tartan shirt and started fiddling at her chest, Roman glancing from the road for a moment and seeing that someone of those two men had forced her into wearing an overly tight corset, which she now managed to untie and cast out of the window, gasping a sigh of relief afterwards.

"I hate those things, they're too fucking tight." Janessa answered.

At the house, Finn was asleep next to Amanda when he opened his eyes, seeing that she was stirring fitfully and reached out, lightly rubbing his right hand up and down her back and her eyes opening… but he could see it was more than a nightmare.

"Someone's out there… they won't let her go…" Amanda whispers.

"That's a very big impression to have." The two heard, making them jump a bit as they saw Janessa stood in the doorway, having just arrived back with Roman. "No, not now… in the morning." She said, her hand raised to cut Finn off as he was about to start all the hellos and introductions there and then, before she closed the door halfway and headed onwards.

"She can't be any older than 14… if even that." Amanda said as they sat up, his left arm around her back and Finn knowing that all the bruises on Janessa made Amanda have flashbacks to all the times that Randy had hit her.

"What are you thinking, lass?" Finn asked.

"That Roman killed whoever was abusing her…" Amanda said, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

"I'm not sure he would… maybe give the guy a damn good lesson but kill him?" Finn said.

"Maybe…" Amanda responded, the two lying back down but she was still hesitant to close her eyes even with him holding her and him seeing the posters and pictures on the walls, some of them going back to 2005. "I haven't been in this room since I was 20, moved in when I was 15, I'm surprised and a bit embarrassed that John kept it like it is." She says when he let a small smile slip through, her face going a light red.

"I look at old things and I think… it shows how far we as people have come." Finn said.

"He still thinks of me as that little kid climbing trees! It's not funny, Finn!" Amanda responded as they laughed, her lightly swatting him. "In his mind, I'll always be that little girl… and little siblings never really grow up." She said as she rested her head back on his shoulder, her eyes feeling heavy.

"Very true… tomorrow, we can learn from that girl. She's… she seems more likely to tell what's happened than Sylvia is." Finn said quietly.

"Yeah…" Amanda whispered, finally closing her eyes as she felt him kiss her forehead.

The next morning, John was looking up the staircase.

"Relax, John… they'll be awake soon." Nikki said.

"I still tend to hover a bit…" John replied as he watched Sylvia glance at the Tv, a rerun of Tom & Jerry on.

"You're her older brother, it's natural… but Finn's a good guy." Sylvia said after looking at John.

Footsteps were heard seconds later, John knowing from the muffled sounding ones that Amanda had slippers on as she walked over and they hugged after he stood up, John examining the stitches and bruise.

"Still in place… I haven't scratched at them." Amanda says as she brushed a stray hair off of her Balor Club tank top after she and John let go.

"Good… don't you ever do that again." John said.

Amanda nodded, John seeing that she was still shaken and the two hugged again.

Upstairs, Janessa checked on Sylvia.

"That woman has sharp senses…" Janessa said as they hugged for a few seconds.

"I was so… worried about you." Sylvia whispered.

"We're both safe now, kiddo." Janessa says as they let go.

"Did Roman… kill them?" Sylvia asked.

"No… he gave the other guy a hellish beating." Janessa answered.

"They deserved every bit of it." Sylvia says as they walked downstairs.

"Hey there, what would you like for breakfast?" Nikki asks.

"She'd have-" Sylvia started, before both her and Janessa said "Toast and whatever sliced meat you have."

While eating breakfast, Amanda glanced at the girls after putting her half empty cup of coffee down, still worried about how thin they were… but she knew that they'd be healthier in time.

It was later into the morning that Amanda headed upstairs to get dressed when she heard the doorbell ring.

"This is it, right?" Camari asked after Enzo had led her and Jess to the house.

"Yeah, they're here." Enzo said.

Enzo rang the doorbell again, Amanda opening it after throwing Finn's leather jacket on over her pajamas and Enzo smirking.

"Wipe that smirk off your face, Zo." Amanda says after letting them in and closing the door. "How did you two find my friend or did he track you down?" She asked, curious.

"We're military, we remember faces." Camari answered.

"So when one passes us in the street… we like to catch up." Jess added.

"Good idea but don't let him drive you crazy." Amanda said as she pulled her hair into a messy ponytail and Enzo was glancing at her neck, seeing a faint red mark. "Knock it off, Enzo!" She said as he tried to laugh.

"You tease her a lot, mister?" Camari asked after Amanda headed upstairs.

"In a good natured way…" Enzo admits.

Upstairs, Amanda was getting ready for the day when Finn snuck up behind her and covered her eyes.

"Very funny…" Amanda chuckled.

"Everyone else is downstairs, you know…" Finn said.

"I'm hiding and you should too… do you always bite people in the middle of the night?" Amanda replies as his hand lowered to his side and he saw the slight mark he knew were from his teeth, immediately closing the door.

"That's a… very complicated thing." Finn said, stepping back towards her.

"You bit me while we were sleeping…" Amanda responds.

"A bite… with more to it than just a physical mark, Mandy…" Finn said, bringing her to sit on the edge of the bed and sitting beside her.

"What's going on here? Out with it." Amanda says as his right hand entwined with her left one and they looked at each other.

Walking upstairs, Sylvia let her curiosity take over and opened the door… she stepped back when she saw them kissing and carefully closed the door, Roman looking at her in a concerned way.

"Are they okay, kiddo?" Roman asked.

"They're… being adults." Sylvia answered.

"Oh, okay… let's not tell the others yet." Roman said as they headed downstairs.

"Do some of your co-workers not like him? Why?" Sylvia asked.

"He's quite different to a lot of us… not everyone can warm to different people." Roman explained.

Sylvia nodded as they reached the living room, Janessa mouthing _'Upstairs?'_ and Sylvia nodding.


End file.
